A frequently asked question is "are Irish Wolfhounds easy to train?"  

My first answer is well "yes" and "no" to which I immediately add “your dog is only as good as the person on the other end of the lead.” 

The Irish Wolfhound is as you know a large, strong, and determined dog and if he wants to get on the sofa and stay there he will, unlike a small pooch you will find it a struggle to heft him off. He is also a sighthound, and if he is chasing his quarry, it is more than likely he will not hear his re-call. It is you who shoulders the responsibility of this, he is just following his instincts.  So it is very important to start with some very basic training of your Irish Wolfhound puppy, it will make life easier for you both.   

There are many good books out there that can help you with training. You could try a puppy and dog training class.  http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/dogtraining

It is not difficult to train your Irish Wolfhound puppy/dog, however whichever method you choose, what is required is persistence, patience and repeated practice. This applies to the pair of you and your dog will unconditionally reflect your ability.  

Safe Place

One of the most important you can do to prepare for your puppy is to create a safe, secure place. This can be a dedicated area where the puppy is safe and feels safe. A crate, or a pen, is your best option, and it will need to be a suitably large one for a Wolfhound.

A puppy den should be used as a positive place, not a punishment zone. A comfy bed, toys, fresh water, and a clip-on bucket or bowl holder is best, so it can't be knocked over. Make sure the den isn't isolated from the activities in your house, and the puppy can watch and become familiar with the household noises too. Don't lock the puppy in to start with as they may feel trapped; leave the door open and give positive encouragement to enter. Giving a puppy choices builds confidence. This safe place will also provide you with peace of mind when you can't keep an eye on your puppy.

Appoint an Irish Wolfhound Trainer

Firstly you need to decide who in the family is responsible for the dog training. Dogs are notoriously quick at picking up on family power struggles and will exploit these to the end.  All non-executive family trainers should be just that and wait for you to issue your training manual! Secondly, decide as a trainer, and in discussion with other family members, what the boundaries are, and what you want and expect from your hound. How much time do you want to give to training and the level of response required in return?  

Commands

I have developed my own techniques over the years. I try to keep things simple and train what is required to make all our lives easy. I use simple commands and signs that not only can I communicate to the dog but also to other family members. Too many trainers will confuse a dog as they start receiving conflicting commands. I also realised that shouting, yelling and repeatedly giving my dog a command and not obtaining a response was a sign of my failure. My dogs have perfect sight, more than perfect hearing and hardly ever miss a movement.  Selective deafness is a sign of pushing my boundaries. I had a dog who, wherever he was, could hear the refrigerator door open and would appear. However, you could call him until you were blue in the face, and he wouldn’t come. We eventually worked this out, and the door was used to our advantage. 

Start by thinking and choosing your simple signs and signals for each command and for each task you wish your Wolfhound puppy to do, and once you have decided, stay with them. There are standard signs and commands you can find in most dog training books or like me use a mish-mash of what suits. 

Come/five blasts on a whistle/ hand clapping/finger clicks - are all my recall commands.

Sit/index finger held up/or pressure from hand at the top of the tail/ - are all my sit commands.

Down/click of fingers and point index finger down to the ground - are my down commands. 

No/Ah Ah - are my stop leave that alone commands, delivered in a commanding tone.

In/Out- are self-explanatory and especially useful for getting dogs in and out of cars and through doorways before and after closing doors. 

“Off” too is a must with a Wolfie, as in “get off the sofa.”

Also, add the dog’s name at the beginning or end of these commands, to begin with. Helpful if more than one dog is involved. 

We have always had a rule in our house and especially when the children were young, that if you feed the dogs human food from the table, you get to eat dog food. This worked, but those who have grown up and have been weakened by the sad, soulful eyes are often pestered at the table.  A sure giveaway that treating has occurred.  I like to eat my meal in peace. A blocking elbow works,  a no or ah ah, or what seems to work like magic is a non-verbal exchange of blowing on my Wolfie’s face.  

When does Irish Wolfhound training start?

The bonding starts on the way home in the car, and the minute you get home, you need to start training. When you hold and cuddle your puppy, keep saying his name.  If you get down on your hands and knees, a puppy will always come to you, call their name and say come at the same time.  This is a double learning experience.  Sit is the next easy command to teach.  Using mealtime is a good opportunity to teach this. As you hold the feed bowl up and over your dog’s head while saying sit, the dog naturally looks at the bowl, and the bottom goes down and sits.  Keep repeating this ritual every time you feed, and once he is doing this on voice command and whilst holding the feed bowl, I then leave the feed bowl on the work surface or in my left hand and start to use the verbal command sit and my pointing up index finger ( the same gesture you use to express “just a minute” “or hold on”).  You can then eventually use just the index finger without the bowl or the verbal command. Silent commands and good responses are very satisfying.  As soon as you can, add blowing a whistle and five short blasts when their food is being prepared. This is the beginning of my outdoor re-call signal.  I have found shouting your dog’s name or coming in the field against the wind can be a thankless task sometimes, but five short blasts on a whistle never fails to work.  Keep repeating this before feeding and add to outside playtimes, and use your favourite dog treat as the reward of a positive response. 

For lead training, try a dogmatic; most of my owners use them.

I would avoid a harness as it just gives them more pulling power. Think Huskies pulling sledges here. In addition, it builds up muscle on the forequarters, not only making them stronger but making them look unbalanced by changing their conformation.

House Training You Irish Wolfhound Puppy 

Start your toilet training the minute you get home too. If you are struggling and your puppy won’t house train, this is in fact your fault.  Puppies and dogs hate messing up their space.  You have to be disciplined in your approach to this, having regular meal times and regular going out times after eating, drinking, waking and exercising.  This is where the puppy den/safe place will have been worth your initial effort. I like to keep the pups in a large pen in the kitchen, as I find this an easier method of toilet training. They are safe. They are not running around all over the house getting excited and messing. The pen soon becomes a relaxing, safe space for you all. A safe place to eat, to drink, have toys, and sleep.  I let the puppy out of the pen, out we go; he runs around and plays in the kitchen, out we go; he eats and out we go; he drinks and out we go; he wakes up and out we go. He meets new people in the kitchen, and out we go.  Notice the “we” have you? Well, it pays off in the end, and as I have said once before, your dog is only as good as its trainer.  One small tip here, when you take your dog out and whilst he is mid-flow doing his business, just keep repeating “hurry quickly” or similar words.  This will pay dividends for the times later on when you are in a hurry to leave the house, on cold nights, or before long car journeys, your dog will know what is expected and get a move on doing his business.  

If your puppy is chewing everything in sight, this again is your fault because you are leaving him things out to chew.  Scoop everything up you don’t want to be chewed and leave your puppy or dog with something made for him to chew, i.e. raw meaty bones, deer antler, rawhide, or other pet chews. Animals naturally teethe and often require gnawing to aid this along with keeping their teeth clean and gums healthy.

Outdoors -Traffic, Car Training, People

The fear of loud traffic noise affects most dogs, as it can also catch us unaware, and whatever you do, don't attempt flooding therapy with an Irish Wolfhound. Flooding is a technique used in behaviour therapy which fully immerses the individual in their fear. Forcing anyone to confront their fear is very traumatising and can have lasting adverse effects.

• If you are in an area with traffic and pedestrians, open your windows whilst feeding or during playtime.

• Feed one meal outside and sit and play with them.

• Walk your dog around your vehicles in the driveway.

• Start the car engine, allowing them to become used to the noise.

• You can try sitting in the car with the engine running and the door open, so your puppy can see this isn't a vast metal monster.

• You can also combine this time with encouraging your puppy to get into the car.

• For this, turn the engine off, open all the doors, including the boot, and see if the puppy is curious. If not, sit and wait for 10 minutes and try the next day again.

• You are using positive reinforcement and treats.

• If your vehicle is high off the ground, don't let your wolfhound puppy jump in and out, as this will put pressure on the joints. Lift the pup by the front paws and rest the forequarters firmly on the surface. When the puppy is steady, lift the hindquarters. This may take two people to start. Some people use a dog ramp, but this will take time to train the pup to use one of these too.

Slowly does it, for a Wolfhound Puppy, slowly introduce new things and ensure the puppy is familiar and comfortable, don’t rush training and don’t flood the puppy with new experiences. This is the best way to achieve a happy and confident dog. Car train, traffic train and people training every day. Rewarding treats and an upbeat tone in your voice each time a car passes or they are in a new situation. Increase exposure time after each positive session. It's the tiny amount of progress that counts. When you and your Wolfhound feel more confident, the next stage is treating yourself to a coffee in a Garden Centre or a well-earnt drink in the pub. 

This is just a short guide to training basics for you and your pet. There is a lot of good help out there if you wish to further the training. Training your dog can be very rewarding.  Some are easier to train, some are a bit slower, and some need more time to think about a command.  They all have varying degrees of intelligence and response - just like us humans!  You will need to assess your dog's ability and work together accordingly. 

Your Irish Wolfhound puppy will reflect back at you, so be calm, focussed, grounded, consistent and kind.  Always reward good responses. This will reap your rewards. 

Irish Wolfhounds are sensitive creatures and respond well to love and kindness. 

Liver cake is a really tasty treat and training aid for your Irish Wolfhound.   The Happy Hounds here  just love it, improving their re-call when out in the field - In fact when they smell this in your pocket they don’t venture far. 

Ingredients
1Lb (450g) liver.
1Lb (450g) self raising flour.
Old bread crusts etc if you have them 
4 eggs.
1 cloves of garlic.
water. 

Method
Blitz the liver and garlic in a food processor.
Add the eggs and blend to a sponge mixture 
Add water if required 
Empty contents into a baking tray.
Bake at 180 degrees for 35 - 45 minutes.

Allow to cool.

Divide into pieces and freeze in small bags ready to take out when training or even showing

p.s. Liver fed "neat" either raw or cooked tends to be too rich for most Irish Wolfhounds, the same applies to heart.  It may cause vomiting or scouring.